American Friends Service Committee

Home > Sports and Everyday Life > Social Organizations > Private Organizations

American Friends Service Committee, relief organization seeking to implement the Quaker peace testimony.Many American Quaker Yearly Meetings joined in 1917 to create the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as a place for conscientious objectors to war to demonstrate patriotism and love of God by engaging in relief and reconstruction. During World War I, the AFSC sent to France 550 young men and 50 women to join the ongoing relief work of English Quakers.

The Service Committee continues to operate under a pattern developed before 1920. The organization is not a missionary body and does not proselytize. Those who receive aid are not subjected to religious or political tests. Originally most staff were Quakers but in the 1960s the AFSC sought to recruit personnel of similar ethnic background to those it sought to help, and by the 1990s less than 15 percent were members of the Society of Friends. Most funding has always come from non‐Quaker sources. Those Friends who are fundamentalist or Conservative evangelicals oppose its sole emphasis upon material improvements. From its inception, the AFSC has also faced criticism from political conservatives who opposed its pacifism and efforts for domestic social reform.

By 1920 the AFSC had supervised the feeding of one million German children and undertaken relief projects in Poland, Serbia, and Russia. In its first domestic program during the 1920s, the AFSC began feeding children of striking coal miners. In the 1930s it promoted a homestead program for unemployed coal miners. Programs on behalf of civil rights and migrant workers have been a continuing theme. Peace education, another major domestic program, has taken many forms, including work camps, news releases, conferences, and demonstrations. After World War II, the AFSC commissioned groups of experts to produce a series of books with policy recommendations on major issues of foreign and domestic policy.

The AFSC has consistently criticized U.S. military policies and supported disarmament and international organizations. In World War II, it raised money for and ran Civilian Public Service camps for conscientious objectors. Until the 1940s the AFSC worked closely with the government; indeed, its chief administrator, Clarence Pickett, was a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. After experiencing official restrictions during World War II and red‐baiting during the Cold War, the AFSC drew back from close governmental cooperation. The AFSC opposed American military intervention in all Cold War conflicts and sought to foster cultural contacts with peace groups in the U.S.S.R. During the Vietnam War, it disobeyed a U.S. embargo and sent medical supplies to North Vietnam, worked with wounded civilians and refugees in South Vietnam, and joined with other peace groups in antiwar demonstrations. The AFSC has sought incremental changes by improving the lives of the poor and oppressed through nonviolent social change.
See also Civil Rights Movement; Conscientious Objection; Philanthropy and Philanthropic Foundations.

Bibliography

The archives of the AFSC are at its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pa.
John Forbes , The Quaker Star under Seven Flags, 1917–1927, 1962.
J. William Frost , ‘Our Deeds Carry Our Message’: The Early History of the American Friends Service Committee, Quaker History 81 (Spring 1992): 1–51.

J. William Frost

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), organization est. 1917 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) that provides social services and information to the public in an attempt to promote international peace and reconciliation. Based in Philadelphia, it maintains offices throughout the United States. During World War I it supplied Quakers and other conscientious objectors with noncombat service roles, such as positions in relief programs and ambulance corps. Since then, it has widened its mission to provide humanitarian aid worldwide, e.g., relief and rehabilitation for victims of war and resettlement and aid for refugees. It has also worked to end capital punishment , ameliorate poverty, and promote human rights . In 1947 the AFSC shared the Nobel Peace Prize with its British counterpart, the Friends Service Council . Since the 1950s the organization has increasingly focused on programs of social and technical assistance "designed to relieve the tensions that lead to war."